New figures show there has been a 70% increase in the number of asylum-related applications for free legal aid.

The Legal Aid Board, which provides services to those who cannot afford a solicitor, says the numbers rose from 902 in 2014 to 1,537 last year.

In all the report shows that the Legal Aid Board received 16,793 applications in 2015 with cases involving domestic violence, child abduction and child care accounted for 17% of all applications.

It says while waiting times continue to be a challenge, it processed almost 18,000 cases in 2015.

The report said there was a significant improvement during the year to the extent that the numbers waiting for legal services fell from over 3,400 at the start of the year to just over 2,300 on December 31, 2015.